Chapter 19

    "We'll continue with A minor," Paul said, "and when you hit that nice combination of competence and boredom that characterizes the balanced student, we'll shift to D minor. Do you know why that is?"
    "No. I'd have thought the first change would be to a major key. Like C, because A minor and C major have the same key signature. No sharps or flats."
    "Brilliant girl! That's a perfect example of the apparent logic that is used in modern music teaching, because it doesn't understand numbers and therefore doesn't really understand the modes, although it may think it does. No, we change to D minor, later on and eventually, because as Mode One, it is really the mother of Mode Two, which is like A minor but not quite the same. Mode Two, like D minor, has a B flat in it. But we don't want a B flat at this point, and not only because Nick didn't use one in his melody. We could start in D mode, if you were a soprano, or if you wanted to begin your vocalizing with warming up your head tone. But for me, the ideal opening to the singer's working day is grinding along in his lower range, like an Asian monk. Thus, A minor, because A is basically the lowest note in the Gregorian repertoire, for the sake of physical nature. But A minor is not Gregorian chant scale strictly speaking, because if it were we would have to call your first note Five instead of One. You'll understand that later. For now, just trust me, call it One, and anchors away. Left thumb on A below small C. Middle finger on E below the A. Little finger on C below the E." Paul spoke slowly and waited between each instruction to make sure the fingers landed correctly.
Deirdre, absorbing his mood nicely, located her digits where they should be.
    "Excellent," he said. "Counting downwards - a fundamental skill that must be acquired right at the beginning, no matter how long it takes - you now have the A minor triad, 1, 5, 3. Fiddle with that, both as an arpeggio and a solid chord. And mix up the numbers. First 1 5 1 3 until the fingers are pretty much in sync with the brain, and then any other combination you can think of. And all the varieties of rhythm that come to mind. But not necessarily now, because the mind's natural curiosity, God bless it, wants to get at least a partial grip on the rest of the list. That's the great drama between the subject and predicate of Aristotle's famous teaching: 'The whole is the sum of the parts.' Our desire to have perfect knowledge of a part is in constant conflict with the desire to comprehend the whole. That's what makes learning so exciting, as long as you're interested in the subject. So, as soon as you've had enough of A minor, we'll proceed to the G major triad. Remember, we're not at the moment studying a major key, so the order of learning has to be different."
Deirdre fiddled as instructed, slowly at first, both in arpeggios and the solid triad, then trying on a bit of speed as her fingers gained confidence. Finally she hit the inevitable stage of boredom and asked Paul if she could change her fingering, by which she meant leaving out the thumb and stretching her index finger to the right so as to bring the ring finger into play.
    Paul laughed. "You get an 'A' for ambition, but also for addiction to the principle of exercising all five fingers as soon as possible. Good on the first, but the second has a host of legitimate objections. Fingering is of course important, but not as important as getting a secure hold on the numbers. Music has to lead with the intellect in order not to get lost in mindless noise. Most five finger exercises are mindless noise invented by someone who wanted to fool unsuspecting parents into believing their children were working hard. They're also bloody unmusical. The sooner you learn the secrets of intelligent harmony the better, and you can't do it by concentrating on five-finger exercises. You're just getting restless because you've conquered the first problem. So now attack the second one, the G major chord, and that should be fairly easy because the fingering is the same as for the A minor. Thumb, middle, pinkie, simply shifted down a second to G, D, and B, which are also which numbers?"
    Deirdre had to think for a moment, not being used to automatically including the numbers in her identifications, in her mental words: "7 . . .4 . . . .2?'
    "Bingo. Try it out. But keep the thumb in. Don't get too eager to stretch the fingers. You have to lead with your head. Get the numbers well rooted before you try to become an acrobat. Then you'll become a better acrobat."
    Deirdre went more slowly this time, as if she could not quite believe not only the simplicity, but also the immediate shift to the major chord within a minor format. Slowly, she played the three numbers over and over again, first in sequence, then alternating every combination she could think of, and playing with the rhythms. Finally she said, "That's neat. But there must be more to learn than just those two chords."
    "Of course, especially if your piano is the only member of the orchestra, and also especially if you've already done a lot of piano, as you have. Initially, there are more chords than you want to think about. It's a nightmare, unless you know how to sort out the math as it actually is, and combine that with fundamental fingering. Once you grasp on to it - or to Them, I should say - it's a walk on the beach. Nice and easy, one foot at a time, and let the waves roll in and stir up the poetry that music is suppose to make in the soul."
    "Do you know a song that uses just those two chords in the left hand?"
    "Yes. I actually know a few, and most of those Irish, as it happens. But seeing you're doing so well with two chords, let's round your skills off with one more, which will give us the first real minimum
arsenal. There's a natural completeness to the three chords, a chord progression as they call it, and that gives you access to a whole lot more songs. But remember that we're breaking all the known rules by starting with a minor key, so when you switch this drill over to a major chord, which I'll eventually let you do as a reward for good behaviour, you'll have to make some minor adjustments. Now, for the sake of simple geometry - or geography, if you like, you've been leading with your thumb, in first inversion, and we'll continue the formula. Put your thumb on the A . . . ."
    But before Deirdre could do this, there was a bang on the door, a loud youthful "hello" and in strode Maggie, with a look on her face that everyone could tell meant she had come with a story of not a little moment.